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Fri 2 May, 2003 11:38 am
Climber Who Cut Off His Arm Had No Choice
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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - The climber who amputated his own arm to free himself from beneath a boulder had no other choice if he wanted to survive, one of his rescuers said Friday.
Aron Ralston, 27, of Aspen would have died had he stayed where he was, in remote Blue John Canyon near Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah, Emery County sheriff's Sgt. Mitch Vetere told NBC's "Today" show.
Ralston, described by authorities as an avid outdoorsman in exceptional physical condition, remained in serious condition Friday at a hospital in Grand Junction, Colo.
Vetere said two other rescuers who returned to the canyon in hopes of retrieving the limb discovered that the boulder weighed 1,000 pounds, not the 200 that they first believed. They were unable to retrieve the arm.
"If he wouldn't have gotten himself out of that mess," Vetere said, "they wouldn't have seen him from the air."
Ralston was hiking Saturday when he became pinned by the boulder. He ran out of water on Tuesday and on Thursday morning, he decided that his survival required drastic action.
Using a pocketknife, Ralston cut off his right arm below the elbow and applied a tourniquet and administered first aid. He then rigged anchors, fixed a rope and rappelled 60 feet to the canyon floor.
Yoikes! I'd be laying there dead...
I'm thinking I would just die too. A pocket knife! I feel weak just thinking about it.
it would be very difficult but also keep in mind the arm was crushed under the boulder. not like cutting off a normal arm. still i dont know if i could do it.
dys, good point. How did it get stuck under there, I wonder. The boulder rolled onto his arm?
Saw this story this morning and was talking to someone about it (it terms of it putting my bad days into more than a little perspective).
Dunno if I could do it, either. I've run out of water in the backcountry and tottered out 15 miles with burning throat on increasingly blistered and bleeding feet, but that is a far, far cry from cutting off your arm with a pocket knife after five days trapped under a boulder. Goddamn. I would hope I could -- but can you imagine cutting through the bones of your own arm (below the elbow, so the radius and the ulna) with a freaking leatherman? Sheesh.
I hope the shock killed the pain for the guy, at least. (I did like how the article I read had a picture of this guy smiling and happy, and felt the need to point out in the caption that the picture was taken before the ordeal...)
Reminds me of that one morning after drinking I awoke with my arm stuck under that fat chick...
howl, li'l coyote man, howl.
(course, the bastards don't so much howl as cry and yip, but there you go....)
Thinking that I could and would do it to get home to my loved ones.
I want that guy on my team!
I think so too, JD. When you are there for some 3 days, staring at your arm, it probably doesn't feel like it's yours anymore. Still, who knows, maybe I would look at it and faint, come about, look again, faint again... Maybe not, I don't mind blood. But I know I will carry a Leatherman with me for every hike now, you never know. A little plastic knife I carry for snacks while hiking would probably not help much.
I heard this early this morning and thought...my god man..a pocket knife!!?? Bravo. Then at lunchtime more details about his own first aid and travels there after. This guys got lots to live for, and boy was he tired of being stuck under that rock.
Could I do it?
At first, I think..nope...you will someday find the rotting bones..it was a fun trip.
However....anyone else read Geralds Game by King? Quite an interesting look into a similar situation and the possibilities.
Having the time and situations develop over that period of time and your mind and plain old instinct I would say...eventually yeah, most likely we would all certainly try. As scary as it sounds....I really do think we would. Even though my mind says..nope, no way..bones is all...you just never know what you are capable of for survival.
That's the truth, quinn1. Pure survival instincts will push us alot further than we think. All you can do is hope that you've got what it takes when you need it. I'd like to send that guy one big pat on the back. That's the kind of heart that separates the real men and women from the sissies.
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